“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
While Film Twitter fawning over her Oscar Isaac bicep stretch, Jessica Chastain is heading to Toronto with a couple of projects, including “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” Co-starring Andrew Garfield as Jim Bakker, husband of exuberant singer/televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. Thrust into the pop culture spotlight after establishing a mini-empire, director Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick”) looks to take a Scorsese-like, fall from grace approach to the prosperous public figure, humanizing her struggles. The material fits well with Showalter’s strengths, and his newest has all the makings of a possible awards player.
“The Forgiven”
Chastain’s second TIFF title, “The Forgiven,” features Ralph Fiennes, Caleb Landry Jones, Christopher Abbot, Marie-Josée Croze, and the great Saïd Taghmaoui. After killing a young Moroccan man in a car accident, a couple nearing divorce hide the body in their trunk, proceeding to a debaucherous dancing party anyway. A Felliniesque (waves at Vin Diesel) fallout thriller set in a gay, bourgeois Moroccan mansion, the couple arise from hedonism to a guilt-ridden hangover, reckoning with the fate of the boy they ran over the next morning. The latest from John Michael McDonagh (“The Guard,” “Calvary“) looks to be a darkly comic critique of colonialist privilege.
“The Good House”
Like Chastain, Kevin Kline also has two titles screening in Ontario, including “The Good House,” co-starring Sigourney Weaver. Playing former flames finding their romance rekindled, experienced director Maya Forbes (“Infinitely Polar Bear”) and writer Wallace Wolodarsky (“Seeing Other People”) bring author Ann Leary’s New England set novel to the screen. Exploring that time in your life when you know the best years are behind you, “The Good House” is a tale of self-sabotage and insecurity over what might have been—expect an endearing reminder as to why audiences fell in love with this pair of acting vets.
“The Guilty”
Reteaming with Jake Gyllenhaal, “Training Day” director Antonie Fuqua returns to compact thriller mode with “The Guilty.” Taking place in real-time within 911’s exacting dispatch center, Gyllenhaal’s character, Joe, receives a perplexing call from a woman (Riley Keough) seemingly attempting to talk to her child but is stealthily reporting her kidnapping. Sporting an excellent ensemble including Ethan Hawke, Peter Sarsgaard, and Paul Dano—plus a script from “True Detective’s” Nic Pizzolatto—the pulse-pounding premise of Fuqua’s latest sounds akin to 2000s films a la “Phone Booth,” and boy has Hollywood missed mid-budget blockbusters made for actual adults.
“The Humans”
Steven Yeun. Beanie Feldstein. Richard Jenkins. Count. Us. In. Adapting his own award-winning play, Stephen Karam makes his cinematic debut with “The Humans,” a comically intricate holiday weekend set-up gone awry. Having recently moved into a dumpy Chinatown duplex, Richard and Brigid (Yeun & Feldstein) find themselves hosting Thanksgiving before they’ve had a chance to settle in. Balancing cordial duties with meal prep and incessant teasing, Richard realizes Brigid’s family doesn’t see eye to eye with him. On anything. Co-starring Amy Schumer and June Squibb, Yeun has more than proven his acting chops, and “The Humans” should only solidify that fact.
